Kohli all praise for bowlers

A few errant judgments cost us: de Villiers

Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday lavished praise on his bowlers who laid the foundation for the eight-wicket victory by shutting out South Africa for 191 in the do-or-die Group B Champions Trophy encounter.

“You know, I'm really delighted for all the bowlers to have executed all their plans well in such a big game,” said a delighted Kohli at the post-match press conference. “To be able to bowl like that against a batting line-up of their capability is something that already we can feel... That confidence and that energy in the changing room is because of a bowling performance like this, and we surely would like to take that forward into the semis.”

The Indian team was guilty of some slack effort on the field in their previous two games. On Sunday against South Africa, they produced a disciplined effort, effecting three run-outs, including a brilliant piece of fielding from Hardik Pandya that caught A B de Villiers short.

Intensity
“I think this was something that we required, this kind of a fielding performance. And before going out, we had a chat in the huddle where I said that I wanted to see everyone's intensity go up. And then bowlers were on the money and that actually helps the fielders get into better positions and attack the batsmen when they know the bowler is hitting the right spot regularly.

“The intensity was really good today. Something, as I said, we have spoken about already. We wanted to improve on it, and we got it. I can't pinpoint any negatives from today honestly. It's probably I would say our most complete game yet.”

South Africa skipper de Villiers felt poor decision making cost them the match. “I felt the team was pretty composed today. I don't think we lost it there with composure. A few errant judgments, a few mistakes out there cost us badly today. We desperately needed another partnership in the middle order. That's where we lost our way. Run outs happen… So it's unfortunate we couldn't get the partnership going. Again it's not going to do with composure. I felt pretty calm with the team all the time. Just a couple of bad, errant judgments out there that cost us."